8 months on, no financial nod yet; installation of 2.7k cameras held up in Gurgaon
Gurgaon: The installation of 2,722 CCTV cameras at 258 locations across the city — under Phase-2 — has been delayed due to delay in financial sanction.Eight months after eligible bidders were shortlisted, the second phase of the city's surveillance and adaptive traffic management project, estimated at Rs 160 crore, remains stalled as GMDA continues to await the green light from a high-powered committee. Under state rules, any infrastructure project above Rs 10 crore must be cleared by the works purchase committee.Approved during GMDA's 10th authority meeting in June 2022, the Phase-2 plan was meant to enhance traffic regulation and boost urban safety. So far, GMDA has installed 1,200 cameras at 218 locations in the city and Manesar under Phase-1, which was completed in Aug 2022.Safety and security clearly don't seem high on the govt's priority list. That is why despite administrative approvals and the tender process, the Phase-2 project has run into yet another bureaucratic hurdle — the lack of financial approval — after being held up for more than a year pending police clearance, which finally came in Oct 2023. According to GMDA officials, once the tender is finally awarded, it would take another 18 months for Phase-2 to be implemented.The selected company will also be responsible for maintaining all equipment and bearing operational expenses for five years.A tender was issued in March 2024 and five firms were found technically eligible by Oct, but the file hasn't moved further. Since Oct last year, several other infrastructure projects for the city received the govt nod, but the CCTV rollout was left out.A GMDA official said, "The technical process is complete and we have submitted the case for placing before the high-powered works purchase committee. We are now awaiting govt approval."The indefinite delay in implementing Phase-2 has cast a shadow over the third phase of the surveillance project, which aimed to further strengthen the city's public safety camera network. The Phase-3 was approved by the state govt in July last year. The project, estimated at Rs 422 crore, proposes the installation of 10,000 more cameras at 2,000 additional locations, including public places, high-footfall areas, community spaces and govt buildings under this phase.GMDA has now said that the requirement for CCTV Phase-3 will be reworked based on actual coverage in Phases 1 and 2 and inputs from the concerned department, after Phase-2 is implemented. A GMDA official said, "We can only proceed with the Phase-3 planning once Phase-2 is implemented. This will give us an idea of how and where additional coverage is required."In Nov last year, GMDA planned to hire an agency to conduct a citywide survey to identify the necessary infrastructure and pinpoint suitable camera locations. But that too was shelved. In Feb this year, the authority cancelled the tender for hiring the agency.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
24 minutes ago
- Time of India
Village officer caught taking bribe in Rae Bareli
Lucknow: The UP vigilance establishment on Friday arrested a village development officer while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a local supplier at the block development office in Dalmau, Rae Bareli. According to official sources, the complainant, who runs a firm named Raj Traders located in Devanna Bazar, Kudwal Road, Raebareli, registered a complaint with the UP vigilance establishment. His firm, which is registered to supply construction materials for development work in Dalmau block and toilet-building works in gram panchayat Terukha. Though the work was certified by the junior engineer, village development officer Premchand Rawat allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 50,000 in exchange for releasing the payment. After conducting a discreet preliminary inquiry which corroborated the allegations, the vigilance department laid a trap. Following the arrest, a formal case was registered against Rawat at the the UP vigilance establishment. tnn
Time of India
24 minutes ago
- Time of India
Accountant held for students' fees fraud
Lucknow: An assistant accountant at Babu Banarasi Das University (BBDU) was arrested on Friday for embezzling students' semester fees by issuing a fake RTGS receipt instead of depositing the amount with the college. "Anupam Shukla, 25, a resident of Bharatipuram Colony in Tiwariganj, was arrested near the Juggar railway bridge," said DCP Crime Kamlesh Dixit. He further said that the matter came to light after a student, Aman Singh submitted a written complaint at BBD police station alleging that he had paid Rs 60,000 in cash to Anupam Shukla as his semester fee on May 21, 2025. "Instead of issuing a proper cash receipt, the accused provided a fake RTGS/NEFT receipt. The fraud was exposed when the college later informed Singh that his fee was still unpaid," the student said . The BBDU spokesperson, Kamil Rizvi, said, "We fear that over 80 students have been duped by the accused, and an internal committee has been formed to check the technical records." TNN
Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Accused of honey trapping, extortion by Surat builder, absconding social media influencer held in Ahmedabad
Evading Surat police for over a year, a social media influencer, Kirti Patel, was arrested in Ahmedabad earlier this week for her alleged involvement in a case of honey trapping, extortion, and defamation filed by a builder, officers said. The woman was arrested from the Sarkhej area of the city on Tuesday. Police are looking for two more suspects involved in the racket. Patel, 34, has around 13 lakh followers on social media. On Wednesday, she was produced before a court by Kapodara police, which sought three days' police remand. Rejecting the same, the court sent her to judicial custody at Surat Central Jail. Sources said there was a property dispute between the complainant and one Vijay Savani, who also deals in real estate in Surat city, and the matter is pending in Surat court. To sort the dispute outside court, Savani took the help of Patel and others, said police. The complainant said Patel and others had called him to a farm house in Surat's Kosadi village last year for a meeting with Savani. During the meeting, they offered the complainant a cold drink spiked with a chemical substance and later took his objectionable photos, said the FIR. After a few days, Patel demanded Rs 2 crore from the complainant, threatening that she would make the photos go viral on social media, the FIR added. She also made different reels on social media against the builder and defamed him, the FIR alleged. The complaint was lodged in June 2024 under Indian Penal Code's sections 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 389 (putting a person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison etc,. with intent to commit an offence), 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), Information Technology Act section 66(e) and 67. Besides Patel and Savani, a woman called Manisha Goswami and another man, Jehangir Khan, were named in the FIR. Savani was arrested last year followed by Goswami and Khan while Patel remained absconding. Kapodara police station inspector M R Solanki said, 'Earlier, we had arrested three accused and submitted chargesheet in the court. Patel was absconding and our teams were looking for her. After receiving tip-offs, we sent our teams to the Sarkhej area in Ahmedabad and caught her with the help of local police. We have seized her mobile phone and have sent it to the Forensic Science laboratory to retrieve the data. Two more accused named in the complaint are yet to be arrested and our teams are looking for them.'
